Shared Solutions Dinner update

Last night was the Shared Solutions dinner. My husband decided to go with me. This was my first experience in a group setting and the first time I actually talked out my dx out loud. Only about 8 people know that I even have it. It was good to be around other people with positive attitudes that could relate. It was a small group, less than 20 including the nurse, session coordinator and the neurologist who spoke. One thing I will say is that I know a lot more than I thought I did.
The best part of the dinner session was actually talking with a couple of people that were there. I met the person that Shared Solutions had set me up with initially when I started with the medication via the support phone call which was good. I was able to put a face with a name and talk with her in person. My husband was asking the doctor question and we both agreed that the doctor could have done a better job answering. Most of his responses were general. He was however very open to answer any questions we had and did stay until all of our questions were answered. His advice was to eat a healthy diet, exercise but not too much intensity, do the general things we all should do to be healthy. I didn’t agree with his answers to a couple of questions, “Does stress cause or increase relapse”. He basically said no, but it can lower your immunity if it is prolonged. Everything I have read and all I have heard on DS is yes it can and try to avoid stress as much as you can. After he said that I took everything else he said with a grain of thought. Questions were asked about what vitamins/supplements to take. He was very general yes vitamin D basically you should be able to get most things from your diet but it is good to get you levels checked and follow the advice of your regular physician. Some of the folks attending in speak about what they were doing, vitamin B, Omega 3, the level of D they were taking, etc.
What did I think about the dinner? Overall it was a good experience and I did learn some stuff. I didn’t know you should replace your auto injector every 2 to 3 years. I was reminded that on you thigh alone you have 10 sites and you should rotate among those as well and can go 10 weeks without injecting into the same site in on thigh. The Shared Solutions nurse was very helpful and of course the free (if you want to call it that since we pay for the prescriptions every month) meal was good. I’m glad that I went. I’m glad my husband asked questions. It was nice having some support. Thanks to you all for encouraging me to step out and go. It was well worth it and I plan to try to attend some other information sessions in the future. I’m still slowly working my way out of the MS closet. Knowledge is power as they say so my plan is to be powerful.